The cage of fear

Fear is a very powerful tool. And I'm not the only one that knows this. Fear is the foundation for the government, for law, for medical care, for hate...
Fear is a cage, and it's not only a cage we're put in by others, we're also put in that same cage by ourselves and ourselves alone.

Let's think about fear of death. This is the worst fear to have.
People close themselves off from the world because of this fear, some completely avoid going outside because they might be hit by a car or struck by lightning.
I don't fear death. Not because I think, no, I know that something is on the other side, but simply because of the fact that if I fear it, it has already thrown me into the abyss. For if I fear death I will never live fully.

If I want to go parachuting, what's stopping me other than the fear that the parachute won't work and I'll fall on the ground, and recoil from it lifeless?
Why do people even like parachuting? Because it's cool? Because it's trendy? No.
People like it because it's being so close to death for such a long time. A few minutes are a long time when you're staring into the void.
Let's face it, being near death is the only time we feel truly alive. That's why we try to reconstruct that feeling as much as we can with such things as extreme sports.
Maybe this is the reason some atheists hold an irrational fear against us Christians, they fear death more than we do. Because the only thing that awaits them is non-existence.

Not just the fear of death, but any fear is the only thing that's stopping us most of the time. What's stopping you from talking to that girl you like other than fear of rejection? What's stopping you from meeting new people other than the fear of being too awkward? What's stopping you to be the best that you can be other than the fear of failure?

I'm not saying that fear is bad though, because it can be a great motivational tool. Start fearing you'll never get that job you want because you won't try hard enough. Start fearing you'll grow fat and lonely because you don't put in the effort of meeting new people and exercising every day. Start fearing you'll never be the person you want to be because fear stops you.

See that mountain? You can climb it. See that tournament? You can win it. See that ocean? You can swim in it. See that empty canvas? You can paint it. See that fear? You can kill it.

Don't let fear feed off from you, you should feed off from your fear.